Among the shortlisted three books are Saudi novelist Amal al-Faran’s acclaimedDiverse of the Empty Quarter and multi-award-winning Moroccan novelist (and former culture minister) Bensalem Himmich’s memoir The Self: Between Existence and Creation.

Two of the novels that had also made the International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) longlist — Inaam Kachachi’s The Outcast and Hoda Barakat’s The Night Post — did not advance to the shortlist. The IPAF longlist is set to be announced this afternoon.